Why China Is Cutting 300K Troops
Beijing celebrates Communist's WWII 'victory over Japan'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 3, 2015 4:49 AM CDT
The parade unfolds
in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015.
(AP Photo/Ng Han
Guan)
(Newser)
–
Tanks, missiles, and troops in lock-step filed past Beijing's iconic
Tiananmen Square in a massive parade today commemorating Japan's World
War II defeat 70 years ago and underlining President Xi Jinping's
determination to make China the pre-eminent Asian power. The spectacle
involved more than 12,000 troops, 500 pieces of military hardware. and
200 aircraft of various types, representing what military officials say
is the Chinese military's most cutting-edge technology. Helicopters
zoomed overhead in an array forming the number 70. Xi kicked off the
proceedings with a speech flanked by Chinese leaders and foreign
dignitaries including Vladimir Putin, though most Western leaders stayed
away.
To
underline China's position that its rise is peaceful and poses no threat
to neighbors, Xi pledged to cut 300,000 troops from the 2.3
million-strong People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing
military. "The experience of war makes people value peace even more," he
said. "China will never seek to expand and will never inflict the
tragedies it suffered in the past upon others." The Washington Post
sees the move as one "that would accelerate [Xi's] campaign to
modernize the military, shifting resources from land to sea and air."
The parade is part of commemorations packaged to bolster the ruling
Communist Party's self-declared role as the driving force behind Japan's
defeat 70 years ago and savior of the nation, though historians say the
rival Nationalists did most of the fighting and the party's version of
events also minimizes the role of the US, Britain, and others. (Chinese
warships were spotted near Alaska yesterday.)
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